An Emerald Prophecy

Prologue

The Emerald Curse

     The Valley was bright and sunny and clear skied the day it happened. The late fall breeze was cool but the sun was very warm whenever it died down. The trees had lost many of their leaves, and the forest felt thin, evergreens dotting the thickets kept the forest-feel though. Crows snapped and cawed at each other in the tree tops, fighting over some sort of tiny morsel. Along the game trail lumbered one large moose with a rack so large it battered the branches as he moved along, eating little bits of lichen off the tree branches. As the sun hit the center of the sky and shadows were shortest, long howls broke out across the Valley, outside the forest, across the winding river and in the thickest of tall grasses of the plains. The entire Valley could hear the celebration, the Royal Pack of wolves had caught something of great value. 

     "Aye! Aie! Settle down!" The tallest, long furred wolf yapped over the hullabaloo, "SETTLE DOWN!" and after a moment the hunting party of seven had calmed down and began to pant heavily, looking to their leader. This golden she-wolf who seemed to hold command over them, inspected their handy work- a large doe lay dead between them. "You all did great out there, each and every one of you," she paused to slowly close their preys eyes with her soft pawpads, "and we will thank the stars for this meal for days to come." 

Over the course of the next hour this golden she wolf delegated tasks out to each of her pack mates, ripping the animal into segments and carefully rigging it to her strongest packmates to carry back to the camp. By the end of the hour, they were headed off south east, where the rest of their pack resides. But strangely she stayed behind, wishing her pack mates a safe trip home, and not to worry, that she'd catch up. 

Once the hunters were out of earshot though, this golden wolf bounded off across the fields, stirring up dust and grass. She flung herself from rock to rock as she reached small rocky hills that rolled all around the edge of the valley before the mountains began their ascent into the sky. She felt free, she had no wolf to answer to, even if it may just be for a few moments, she had to feed her free spirit here and there. 

She slowed, and padded along the edge of the smallest pond, it was seasonal and wouldn't be here much longer. It smelled stale, and her paws stuck to the mud around it, but her mouth was dry and she wouldn't be finding water this far away from the river, so she carefully bent, and lapped at the water. The taste reminded her of playing in the late winter mud as a puppy. The breeze kicked up around her and she caught the faintest scent of... something sweet. Its Fall she thought to herself, flowers wouldnt be blooming yet, would they? or.. berries? 

But nevertheless, she was intrigued, and followed her nose along the ponds edge to what looked like a very small animal burrow, much too small for herself. She snuffled along the edges but everything was stale, old and most importantly, not quite the scent she was looking for. She continued into the underbrush, getting fur caught up in the thorns of some of the bushes. Eventually she found a large boulder jutting out from the soil; it smelled sweet. "A Rock that smells sweet?" She wondered aloud before rubbing up against the cool stone. It had a green sheen to it, and seemed to exude the scent of blooming, beautiful, spring time. Renewal. Curiosity overtook her as she pawed at the ground around the stone and examined the nearby foliage, but nothing stuck out to her. She made a promise to herself come back, someday.

On her way back to the pack, the sun was slowly starting to set, and she realized how long she'd actually been out. Much longer than she should have been, they would be wondering where she was by now. But just as she rounded the corner and could see the round dencave entrance lined with ivy, moss, ferns, and air-plants, she was ambushed by her beta wolf, second in command, Thrush, "OH My Goodness, thank the stars you are safe! Opal! we've been looking for you for ages!" he yiped loud enough to get a few others attention. Opals bright green eyes softened realizing how missed she really was. Maybe being annoyed by the dogs that love you and surround you everyday isn't so bad after all, the job just felt like being tied down sometimes. As she was escorted by her closest pack mates, her ears didnt tune into all of the conversation being had around her. Thrush was speaking of the thrill of the hunt, Lavender was obviously trying to get her word in as well, but Opal just smiled, and seemed in a daze.